Daily Worship

Re-Imagining Church

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Surprisingly Holy

Until now each of the non biblical books I have talked about this week have been fiction. For me stories are an amazing way to learn and discover truths which would be hard to fully appreciate in isolation. Jesus must agree with me a little as he so often spent his time telling stories to help people understand things they were not ready to accept.

For my last reflection I’m thinking about the non fiction: Gut by Giulia Enders. She talks about ‘the body’s most underrated organ,’ often using anecdotes and funny drawings to get her point across. I chose this book because the reading today is about something ordinary suddenly getting extraordinary attention. Moses is overawed to learn that this ground he has been trampling on for years is now holy.

This is a little bit of how I felt reading Gut. I looked at my belly and suddenly marvelled at the organ it contained. An organ which, along with most of the western world, I had been trampling on without thinking for years. I had been feeding it whatever I fancied, never dreaming that its health could be the key to so much of my ability to live life to the full.

God would not be surprised to read this book I think. Something tells me God already knows that our guts are holy. Perhaps not in the same way as we see in the book of Exodus but in the way that a part of someone can be so very precious to those that care about them.

God of our guts and organs

Please help us to expand our view of what is holy in your eyes.

Lead us to a place where we can treat our bodies with the respect and care that they deserve.

Help us to keep telling stories with you and to care for the world, like you care so deeply for us.

Amen.

by Lily Cathcart, Glasgow

Exodus 3: 3-5

3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’